My sixteen-year-old self

  A blog that I follow, The Creative Junkie, posted about this a little while ago (in her usual hilarious manner), then another friend of mine, Shawntae, posted about it as well (on her Facebook, not her blog). It's apparently been trending on Twitter, and I thought I'd share mine. You're pretty much just supposed to tell things to your sixteen-year-old self. I thought this could be both pretty funny and maybe poignant. Probably not so much poignant for me, but for someone it may be.

This is me at 16. Good Lord!

Nice bangs.

Here goes:


Your mother is not that bad. Get over it.

Yes, you will get out of that little podunk town.

That guy that you're totally in love with? Yeah, stick with him. He's even greater in 15 years.

You are not fat. Now, in 15 years, it'll be another story.

Hypercolor shirts aren't cool. No they're not.

That Chumbawamba song will be in your head FOREVER. (I get knocked down, but I get up again SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP)

Some of those awesome friends you have right now just won't make the cut.

Get your bachelor's degree out of the way RIGHT after high school. If you don't you'll be in school for the next ten years finishing it. Then you'll go onto your Master's and that'll take years, too. Just do it. (I wish I had taken this advice!)

Those romance novels you insist on reading? Complete drivel. There are so many good books out there your should be spending your time reading!

You know that habit you have of burning something or almost burning down the house every time you cook? It will get better. Much better.

All those baby doll dresses you have? You'll never wear them again.

That Fresh Prince of Bel Aire show you like so much. That guy grows up to be DAMN FINE.

Your sisters aren't that bad. Get over it.

It all ends up pretty good.

Veteran's Day

  Those of you who know me well, know that I'm a flaming leftist liberal. Those of you that don't know me, I'm a flaming leftist liberal. Now we're all on the same page. Sometimes liberals are accused of being unpatriotic or not loving America or most absurdly, that we don't support the troops. For THIS flaming leftist liberal, none of those is true. I could not be more proud to be an American, nor could I be more thankful and full of awe for the men and women who serve our country (my eyes just welled up a little, ugh!). I do not take you for granted and I wish I could thank each and every one of you. Thank you seems like such a little phrase. But from the bottom of my heart, thank you.

This is a picture of my husband's Grandfather, Glennon Coleman. He was a good man and I had the honor of knowing him. These kinds of pictures amaze me. Love it.

Again, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.

Tackle It Tuesday # something

   I'm trying to get back into the blogging. I figured doing my memes again might get me to update regularly. In looking back at my posts, the one that stands out to me is the post My Award-Winning blog. Not because I "won" an award, though that was fun, it's because the post was funny and interesting and was an easy read. It wasn't boring drivel about how I went to work and cooked dinner and played with my kid. If I find things to write about, or have questions to answer, I feel like I'm a little more interesting. I follow this blog, The Creative Junkie, and OMG, I'm not kidding you, this chick is hilarious! Her blog and her writing make my blog look like a gnat, but that's not really what I'm saying - I mean that her writing style and her humor is what brings people back.

   Anyway, onward...Tackle It Tuesday. Hmm. I've been trying to tackle so many things lately. I told you guys how I got the play room set up.
 Check.
   I got my own bedroom cleaned up (which is the only room in the house than I seem to be incapable of keeping clean).
Check.
   I mated the socks in the OhMyGodWhereDidAllTheseSocksComeFromAndWhereAreTheirFreakingMates basket.
Check.
   I've made a point of using $10 of a $10 purchase (or some such similar amount) coupons that stores are sending out like crazy now that it's the holiday season. Even if I'm just buying socks and underwear, I'm not wasting that $10! I'm determined! I mean, we've already determined that we need some freaking socks around here, as most socks don't have a mate. Stupid socks. (Oh, and just an aside for those of you thinking, "She 'tackled' shopping??" FYI, I HATE shopping. I hate it. Hate it. Hate. HATE.(An aside in the aside...I do like to Christmas shop. I like finding the right gift for the people I love!))
Check.
   I've found a digital scrapbook forum that I really like, DigiShopTalk, and I've become active in the forums and trying to post my layouts in the gallery (though I haven't been successful in that yet, and that's a whole 'nother story cause I'm starting to get pissed that I can't do it and no one's helping me!).
Check.
   I cleaned out the pictures on my harddrive. I deleted all pictures where it was just the back of someone's head or it was blurry. And that was no easy task. I ended up deleting over a thousand pictures (out of about 20,000).
Check.
   So I guess what I'm saying is, can't I get out of Tackle It Tuesday? I tackled a whole bunch of crap these past couple of days! This blog post was to tell you that for Tackle It Tuesday, I'm not going to tackle a damn thing cause I've been tackling like crazy!

   For those of you not "friends" with me on my Facebook (stop by and "friend" me!), who have already seen this picture, I'll leave you with a picture of me going to my cousin's wedding reception Friday night. We had fun!

Yep that's me. And my chins.

One more, because my kid is so dang cute and she danced the night away at said reception:

 

Boogie down, Maylee!

Love to all,

Goings on

  I think I have this preconception that every blog post has to have pictures attached. I guess they don't. I can just share with you guys my boring mundane life. I guess that's why I figure I need pictures, why else would you stop by and read this if it weren't for a little something special. I'll see what I can dig up. Anyway...

   For those of you not in-the-know, this weekend was iDSD, which is International Digital Scrapbook Day. The "day" was officially Saturday, but they sales and freebies went on from Friday to Monday. I've been raking in the goodies all weekend! It's been so awesome! I got so many full kits for free! Amazing! I tried to be really selective because everything was so cheap. But I knew if it didn't really wow me when I first saw it I shouldn't buy it, even if it was only 60 cents. Yes, there were kits for 60 cents! Crazy! But when it comes to templates, I can't say no. I grabbed up every template I could. Again, so many freebies! And in the digiscrapping world, there's this thing called RAK, which is a Random Act of Kindness. Designers just randomly pick people (in forums) to give stuff away free! I was RAKed once with a sweet template pack! It's been really awesome! And I found so many new designers and shops that I love! Here's the template pack I was RAKed from TinyToes at CatScrap:

Got this kit for free from a designer and shop that I've never been to, Thaty Borges at Digiscrappers Brasil:

I got this GORGEOUS kit for $1 at 7th Heaven. Brydka is one of my favorite designers!

This is a cutie kit from Vesi at Shabby Pickle. I've been to SP before, but Vesi's new to me. FREE!

      Anyway, them's some of my goodies I got. Can't wait to start SCRAPPING!!

We got family pictures taken today at Target Studios. I've never used them before. We did it with all of Brandon's siblings and their families. There were 11 of us total. I thought they turned out great and the kids (a 4 year old and two 2 year olds) did great. It went much better and smoother than I thought it was going to. We did this as a surprise for my mother-in-law. I'm so excited for her to get them at Christmas...she's going to be so surprised! She loves pictures as much as I do! And with coupons I got online, it was so cheap! Especially divided between 4 families. Even without dividing, it was a damn good deal! I've paid well over $200 for picture packages of just us, and this was under $50 (total!)

   With my Mom and brother moved out, we decided to make the spare room into Maylee's "toy room." I got it all set up yesterday, and when I was done, Maylee kinda stood back and said, "Look at this Mommy! Look at all my toys!" The only problem is that the play room is upstairs, and Maylee always wants someone to play with her. She's not very good at playing by herself. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but I know when I have stuff I need to get done, it's a bad thing! Ugh!

  The mouth is still sore from the new filling. I have a very hard time getting over fillings and dental work in general. My mouth will be sore and throbbing for about 6 weeks and my filling very sensitive to hot and cold for about a year. That's just the way it goes for me and it SUCKS! But I'm glad I have all my teeth and generally have pretty good teeth and only have to go to the dentist for cleanings.

   I don't know why anyone reads this drivel I write. I'll shut up now. I'll leave you with the last scrap page I did. I haven't been scrapping much lately, just buying stuff to scrap with!

Credits:

Mel Hains - Chicolate

Love to all.

Happy Halloween!

   I know it's not until tomorrow, but Happy Halloween everyone! I'm still a little confused as to whether we're supposed to trick-or-treat tonight or tomorrow night. Different towns are doing it different nights and I have no idea which night to go! I guess I'll call my neighbor, she'll know! When you don't have a school-age child, you just don't hear about these things! Maylee's going to be a fairy. She thinks it's a butterfly costume, because it has wings, but it's really a fairy. As long as she likes it...I don't really like it, but she picked it out, and she's the one wearing it, so it's okay.

   So the last couple weeks have been okay. I haven't posted in 10 days, and they all kind of blend together. I know we've been crazy-busy at work. Everybody's spending their money before the end of the year, so we've got books, books, books. We get them in (books, that is) pretty steady throughout the year, but Sept., Oct., Nov. get really busy. I had part of a filling fall out, so I had to go to the dentist and my mouth still hurts. I can't open my mouth very far, it feels like my jaw it screwed too tight! My grandma is back from Montana (she lives there about 5 months of the year and here the other 7), so we went to see her last weekend. She couldn't believe how big Maylee is, of course!

   Speaking of Maylee, she's in the very ANNOYING 2-year-old stage. Everything is Why Mommy? Look Mommy! Why Mommy? What is it Mommy? Why Mommy? NO Mommy! Why Mommy? No never Why Daddy, always Why Mommy? I might go a little crazy!!!! I try to take a deep breath and give her the attention she needs, but dang!

   Right now, I'm reading Backseat Saints by Joshilyn Jackson. I've never read her before and I'm really enjoying it. At work, I'm listening to the last Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, getting ready for the 1st part of the movie that comes out in a couple weeks. I'm so excited. I love, love, love the Harry Potter books. The movies are pretty good, too.

   Time for the picture portion of the post! I've done quite a bit of scrapping the last week or so. I've been trying to get old pictures done and scrapped to make way for the new stuff. So here they are:

  Credits:

Background and most elements: Summer Fun – Delicious Scraps

Alpha : Essential Alpha – Jady Day Studio

Credits:

Holiday magic – Shabby Princess

 Credits:

Sunrise Sorbet blog train

(blog trains are really hard to credit because so many great shops contribute, like Funky Playground and Sunshine Studio)

Credits:

Template: Kristin's Scraps

Plentiful – Shabby Princess

 Credits:

Background: Lavender time – Marta Designs

Elements: Sweet Dreams – Talia from Dani Moy Designs

Cloud – Aprilisa 

Frame: Scarborough Fair – Design House Digital

   For me, there are highs and lows to these pages. I don't really like the Do You Compute one. It's just kinda blah to me. Same with Counting Sheep. But the Autumn Beauty is one of my favorite pages I've ever done. I think it's beautiful!

  Well, Maylee and I are off to do a little shopping. (I just asked Maylee if she wanted to go to the store with me and she said, "Yes! We have to go shop!" Oh boy. I guess she doesn't have my hatred of shopping...yet.) We're having our family pictures taken next week with Brandon's side of the family as a surprise Christmas present for my Mother-in-law. She's going to be so surprised and happy! I can't wait to see her face!

  Love to all,

Which is better?

   Thought I'd pose you guys a question. Which one of these do you like better? I'm not telling which, but one I did when I first started scrapping and one I did just today. Which one do you like better? Vote in the poll on the right. And you can leave me a comment as to which one is old and which is new if you want.

#1

#2

Both were made with the same kit, The Shabby Princess's Lovely. Thanks for playing!

Post #40

   Blogger tells me this is my 40th post. Hm. I'm trying to post more, but sometimes I just don't have anything to say or anything to share, so I feel like it'd be stupid to post to the 8 people who actually read this and waste their time! I at least have a scrap page to share today, so that's something!

   We've all been doing pretty well. My mom and brother moved out officially this weekend, though most of their stuff is still here! We're pretty sure we're going to turn half of the guest bedroom into a play room (yeah, like half is ever really gonna work. That room's gonna be taken over in no time!). I want Maylee to have a place to play AWAY from the TV, and I'm a believer (at least now) of not having too much stuff in her bedroom. It needs to be a place of sleep, not play, especially when we're going to be transitioning into a big-girl bed in the next few months. And as far as the TV, even when it's not turned to something for her, my silly husband's got to have the stupid thing on, and she'll watch it. I'd have the thing off most of the time she's awake if I could, but Brandon's not in agreement! That's not to say I don't love to watch TV, because my post a few posts ago illustrated that we watch way too much TV, but I like to watch it AFTER she goes to bed! Anyway...

   Maylee's going to the babysitter's this morning. She has a great time when she's there, but convincing her of that in the morning is not easy. She doesn't want to get dressed. She doesn't want to go see her friends. She doesn't want to get in the car seat. She doesn't want to...   you get my drift. Once she's there, she's fine, but getting her out the door is a chore (hey, that rhymes). I guess I'm going to be looking for her a daycare for when she turns three. Preschool through the school district might not be an option, so I'm looking at daycares or even very structured babysitters with activities and learning time and stuff. I can't believe my baby is that big already! I just don't want to throw her into kindergarten and she's never really been in a school-like setting before. That sounds scary, even to me!

  I've started to keep a log when I scrap. I have a text document open and keep track of every credit I need for a particular page. For example, this is what I have for the page below: (I linked them for my blog only, of course)

0/18/2010

Too Cute to Spook

Background & Pumpkin: Fangs for the Memories - Summer Driggs

Frame: Funkylicious – Delicious Scraps

Elements: Fall in the Patch – Sir Scrapalot

               Autumn Sunset – Raspberry Road

This is an older one was done with Owl Always Have Spring - Summer Driggs.

Well, that's that.